Israel News

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A spokesman for Justin Bieber told JTA that the pop star is not meeting with children from Israel's rocket-beset south because of logistics, not politics.

“Justin welcomes the chance to meet with kids facing difficult circumstances, regardless of their background, and in fact, he had already invited children from the Sderot area to join the 25,000-plus other fans at his concert in Tel Aviv on Thursday night,” the spokesman told JTA.

Bieber Fever has spread to Israel — and a group of Bieber-obsessed teens who live in Southern Israel are thanking their lucky stars that they’ve been given free tickets to a sold-out Justin Bieber concert on Thursday at Yarkon Park, in Tel Aviv. (A meeting between Bieber and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the concert was discussed by representatives, but didn't come about, with Netanyahu insisting that children from communities affected by Gaza rocket fire attend the meeting. Bieber's camp said logistics prevented the meeting.)

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly has canceled a meeting with pop star Justin Bieber after the singer refused to meet with children from southern Israel.

Netanyahu, who was scheduled to meet Bieber on Wednesday night, a day before his concert in Tel Aviv, invited children living in communities that have been hit by rockets fired from Gaza to join the sit-down. Bieber, however, refused to meet with the children, according to Israel Channel 2, causing Netanyahu to cancel the meeting.

More than a year after the police recommended indicting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on corruption charges, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is expected to make public this week a draft indictment that could result in the resignation of one of the country’s most powerful politicians.

Political observers say there’s even an outside chance that an indictment could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s steady coalition and lead to new elections.

Avi Dichter, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet (internal security service) and a former minister of internal security, is a Knesset member from the Kadima Party. He was one of six Knesset members who spent last week meeting with Jewish leaders here and in Boston to learn about the American Jewish community as part of a new effort launched by the Ruderman Fellows Program and Brandeis University. The Jewish Week caught up with him for a wide-ranging interview touching on everything from diaspora Jewry to the Goldstone report to Israel’s new missile-defense system.